rejuvenatement – not retirement

My hands caress
use opposable thumbs.
Yours do that,
and also shoot guns.

I bask in the sun
nurture my young.
You do that,
and stockpile guns.

I sit in here
looking out at you.
You stand out there
looking in at me.

I see your face
your hands
your feet,
so like me.

So why am I the one
locked in here,
you out there
staring at me.

Photos taken at the San Diego Zoo. I can stand for hours looking at the gorillas – they mesmerize me. I’m hosting dVerse today, the virtual pub for poets, asking folks to anthropomorphize within today’s poem. Give an animal or object human characteristics such that it behaves like a human. Pub opens at 3 PM Boston time — come on over and anthropomorphize with us!

Well…..at least the San Diego Zoo has a huge (very very large) natural habitat for the gorillas and they are behind glass, not bars. But I do agree…….for me, zoos are difficult places. Although these days, many of them are maintaining and breeding animals who need protection.

They truly are amazing. I can watch them for hours. We’ve been to San Diego about 4 times over the past 47 years and each time I say, before we go, I’m staying an hour in front of the gorillas…and I do! 🙂

A beautiful poem Lillian and those eyes are so moving. I have only seen monkeys in the wild once, near the temples of Yaxchilan, swinging through the trees and having a ball. However good the intentions may be, zoos will always look like prisons to me.

I’d love to know what they are thinking too.
I guess the good zoos do a good job by protected breeding for those species at risk of extinction. But it is probable this would not be needed if mankind wasn’t so keen on the so called sport of killing them…
Kind regards
Anna :o]

we live a life of such contradiction. You write it so clearly with each stanza showing just how similar yet so divided we are from the other inhabitants of this earth. A distance we humans create through fences and borders, hurt with hands and guns. I am very moved by this poem, zoos are lovely places to see wildlife but they also show the hurt in the animals eyes I cannot bear to see.

I do so agree with what you’ve written here. When I looked at my photos in large size on the page, they took my breath away….the eyes….oh the eyes. And the innocence of the curled hand…in comparison to the human hand’s tasks and actions.

zoos in Asia in particular are badly maintained, I have often secretly and crazily plotted with my kids to return at night and set them all free!! The saddest to me are the elephants, I can’t look at their eyes, they stand so still yet long to be free. At least the orang utans have the trees to give them a semblance of natural living. you have a lovely skill at taking photographs Lilian.

I love the San Diego zoo. It seems a very well kept and caring place. Glad you liked the photos! Sometimes I’m amazed when I look at the pictures I’ve taken – cropping also helps a lot to zero in on the features!

I always find zoos very sad, in spite of the breeding and protection of a species. I feel, maybe in the natural order of things, animals are supposed to die out. after all, I we don’t have dinosaurs still roaming the earth! I prefer the natural habitat zoos but still….I find the eyes of the great apes mesmerizing and I realize just how barely separated we are.

Ah Toni, your comment is so thoughtful here. I’ve never thought of it in this way…in terms of the natural order of things. But sadly, humans and their “footprints” on the earth have increased, in my opinion, the demise of many creatures and that is not in the “natural” cycle of things. So perhaps we owe it to these magnificent (and some of the not so magnificent) creatures, to build natural habitat zoos to protect them? And oh yes……those eyes!!! And I am always mesmerized by the hands! Sooooo like ours!

I see the humanness, tenderness, love, and caring every time my dog’s big brown eyes look into my green eyes and she turns her head slightly as I speak gently to her. She understands me. I am devoted to her as she is to me. I find it difficult to go to zoos as I see the humanness in many of the animals it holds. When I first started reading your poem I thought it was about you being inside your home and the villains were outside only to discover you were talking about gorilla in a zoo… if you had no pictures, i would not have guess you were describing that scene.

Ah, the opposable thumbs didn’t quite tell the story. Others were surprised by the photos at the end too. So it’s a piece that needs the photos to fully understand.
Pets are truly a part of the family and offer uncondiional love :)\
Really really nice and fun to see you reading my posts, Adda. Many thanks! 🙂

San Diego has a beautiful zoo and I enjoyed watching the apes as well when we visited last winter. I found it interesting that they provide spacious retirement quarters for former circus elephants. Their zoo also saved the California condor as a species by breeding and releasing to the wild.

Thank you for this info, Lynn! I’ve been there maybe 4 times on vacations, conferences etc and have always thought it a wonderful place. I first learned about it on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show when Joan Embry would visit with various animals from the SD Zoo. This confirms my opinion!

I’ve had thoughts like these when I’ve been to zoos. However, I’ve spent enough time in the wild to know that sometimes it’s safer — easier to survive elsewhere. Powerful images, and powerful thoughts! Definitely a conundrum.